Author: Hatt, Richard
Biography:
HATT, Richard (1785-1842: RLF)
Watkins included Hatt as a “living author” in 1816 when he was in his heyday, and notes his birth in West Ham, Essex, on 18 Aug. 1785. Birth registers provide the date of baptism (11 Sept.) and the names of his parents, Elizabeth and Thomas Hatt. Nothing is known of his education; his first collection of verse (1810) apologises for an “unlettered Muse.” Gaps in the bibliographical record may be accounted for partly by recycling of materials and confusing titles (was The Hermit the basis of Poetical Works 2nd edn. and then of Poems 4th?), but there are probably also editions of which there is no surviving copy, one of them certainly Lyrics, and Other Poems (1811) mentioned by both Watkins and Hatt himself on later title-pages. He also wrote for periodicals, sometimes using a pseudonym. His Elegy for Princess Charlotte (2 edns 1817) is too short to be included here. Despite great efforts, he could not earn a living by verse and his poetic career was short-lived. With the advantage of some early training in law (he never articled), he turned to writing on legal issues, specializing in the law and the practice of law with regard to insolvent debtors in England, a subject of which he unfortunately had first-hand experience. He acted as a freelance reporter, particularly on the courts, for some of the London papers. He married, it is not certain exactly whom or when—probably Sarah Barrett or Bearratt, at St. Martin in the Fields on 25 May 1820—and they had six children, but his wife died some time before Nov. 1826 when false reports appeared in the press about his having failed to provide for three of the children. Hatt struggled on, suffering the loss of at least three children, and oversaw the publication of another edition of his Poetical Works in 1837, but towards the end of his life he applied successfully to the RLF and was awarded a total of 55 pounds in the three years 1838, 1839, and 1840. In 1842 his son Charles applied on his behalf, saying that he had a short time to live and requesting burial costs; in a letter of Aug. 6 he reported his death the day before, at the home of his “aged mother, Mrs. More” in Paddington. His death was registered in Kensington, London. (RLF #331; findmypast.com 3 Mar. 2022; Watkins; The Age 12 Nov. 1826; Morning Herald 18 Nov. 1826, 16 Mar. 1829) HJ